Fur clothing. Fur clothing requires a lot of preparation, yet many women even in pre-contact times went beyond the basics, by juxtaposing contrasting colours to make the clothing look attractive. Skin clothing is extremely warm but the fur wears down comparatively quickly and, when the people lived on the land, it required replacing every year which made for a lot of work for the women.

Traditional Inuit clothing

December 28, 2018

1938

A means of survival

One of the critical skills that enabled pre-contact Inuit to survive in a harsh environment was the women’s ability to make warm clothing. The women had to clean the caribou or seal skins and then sew them into clothing every fall for each member of the family. There would be two sets of caribou clothing per person, one with the fur facing in, the other with the fur facing out. The woman’s crescent-shaped knife, the ulu, was used for cutting, while sinew from the caribou was transformed into waterproof thread for both winter caribou clothing and summer/fall sealskin outfits. Needles were made from bird or fish bones or slices of ivory. Both women and men carried a sewing kit in a bag hung around their necks for emergency repairs when travelling. The skill involved in creating clothing from raw animal pelts, let alone the intricate designs often sewn into the clothing (frequently under very harsh light and climate conditions), pay witness to the artistic abilities of Inuit seamstresses. Survival of a family depended in large part on the woman’s ability to produce warm clothing and to pass on her skills to her daughters.

Fur clothing. Fur clothing requires a lot of preparation, yet many women even in pre-contact times went beyond the basics, by juxtaposing contrasting colours to make the clothing look attractive. Skin clothing is extremely warm but the fur wears down comparatively quickly and, when the people lived on the land, it required replacing every year which made for a lot of work for the women.

Beaded amoutiit. April 1, 1999, the day Nunavut came into being, saw a huge unofficial fashion display in Iqaluit put on by Inuit women. Traditional and modern variations of Inuit clothing were to be seen everywhere, with skin, fur, beaded and duffle parkas and amoutiit on every corner. In this photo Dorothy and Lilian Aglukkaq stand with Alexina Kublu in front of the Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. offices.

On display. (right) Each Canada Day and Nunavut Day sees a display of women’s fashion in Iqaluit, usually a mixture of the traditional caribou and seal fur clothing contrasting with the white summer amoutiit usually decorated with intricate beadwork. Beads came north as trade goods with the whalers in the 19th century and have been popular ever since.

Teaching traditions. (above) Annie Nauyaq was among the best seamstresses of her time in Iqaluit, Nunavut. Proud of their Inuit heritage, she and her husband Eliyah were inummariit, examples of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (Inuit Traditional Knowledge) in daily practice. In the photo Annie cuts a skin as part of a class at the high school where she taught for several decades.

Making kamiit. (top left) The high-quality sewing by Inuit women was critical to the survival of the people when they lived on the land. Skins had to be cleaned, dried and then chewed to be soft enough to sew with sinew, as illustrated here by Mary Ittunga from Taloyoak, Nunavut.

Survival suits. Fur clothing, as worn here by Joanasie Qarpik, was critical to Inuit survival in traditional times. When the men went hunting in winter, their wives made them two layers of caribou clothing, the first with the fur turned inside, the second with the fur on the outside. Kamiit (skin boots) would also consist of at least two layers of caribou skins, sometimes also packed with dried grass or (after contact with whalers) shredded hemp rope as an extra insulator. Summer would often see the caribou clothing replaced by sealskin due to its waterproof qualities.

Nick Newbery taught in several communities in Nunavut from 1976-2005. He would like to acknowledge the assistance he received for this article from Bert Rose, northern educator and long-time resident of Nunavut. The photos in this article are from Nick’s Arctic photo collection that can be found at www.newberyphotoarchives.ca and should be viewed from a historical perspective.